December 20, 2013
After some bumpy conditions making our way south from Kawau to Waiheke Island, we found beautiful, calm and sunny conditions in Oneroa Bay, where we anchored. This was no great surprise: Waiheke has a sort of weather magic that makes it sunnier and warmer than mainland New Zealand. I don’t remember how this phenomenon works, but I sure remember how wonderful it feels.
Vineyards, wineries, olive groves, upscale estates, small farms, and bachs (holiday homes) dot the golden grassy hills of this island. This place is all about food, wine, and the good life, sort of like the Camelot of New Zealand. We’d visited previously but only scratched the surface as far as seeing what Waiheke had to offer; so it felt great to be back–especially on such a beautiful day!
We headed ashore, this time knowing just where to beach the dinghy, how to find our way to town, and exactly what we wanted to buy: some of the renowned artisan bread from Waiheke’s Ringawera Bakery, available at the small market in town. I bee-lined us to the market and found three ciabattas left (when we stopped back after lunch, the bread was gone).
Next, where to eat lunch? I thought we’d go to the cafe we enjoyed during our last visit but spotted an Italian restaurant called Fenice Cafe. We went to take a look and found a charming little place that had great looking food. We split the pizza with olives and roasted baby onions, and it was fabulous. (For anyone planning to visit Waiheke Island, we recommend this charming little restaurant.) After lunch, we visited Little Wai for the our favorite Kohu Road salted caramel ice cream. Yes, indeed, Waiheke Island is a magical foody-food kind of place.
Now, it was time to decide the best way to enjoy more of its wine and wineries. Last season we’d done a tour which was great, but this time we hoped to see more places. We went to the visitors centre, looked into some options, and were thrilled to find we could rent a car for $60 a day, cheaper than a cab tour and much more convenient than the bus. They had a car available the next morning. Sold! Today was about food, tomorrow would be about wine. And more food.
After that lovely trip ashore, we headed back to the boat and I took a nap, falling asleep to the classic sounds that come with a summer afternoon on a boat in a popular bay: dinghy motors going to and fro, people laughing, kids splashing in the water. To me this sound brings back so many good memories of being on our boat at Catalina Island (in California), another magical island where the sun seems to shine brighter and warmer than anyplace else.
Rich, worried about the rapidly increasing number of boats in the bay, was less able to enjoy the festive surroundings. And yes, the inevitable happened: someone came in and anchored too close to us. It wasn’t quite Christmas, but it this being a Friday meant the unofficial kickoff to Silly Season (the long New Zealand summer holiday season). We planned to enjoy our day ashore tomorrow, then ride out the rest of the crowded season at a marina. We weren’t sure which one yet, but we had the next two weeks covered with a reserved slip in Auckland’s Viaduct area.
After my nap, we capped off this terrific day with the bread we’d bought. It definitely lived up to its reputation and was especially good accompanied by cheese, apple and a bottle of wine. We were definitely feeling Waiheke Island’s vibe of living the good life.
Below, some photos from our day at Waiheke Island’s Oneroa Bay and town. You can see the difference in the number of boats in the morning (photos at the top of the gallery) and the afternoon (photo at the bottom). Our boat is right in the middle of the photo, close but reasonably spaced from the surrounding boats. As you can imagine, the boater who later came in and anchored among us was too close to everyone. (You can click to enlarge and scroll through photo gallery).–Cyndi
